Amazon Music for Artists just launched a tool aimed at helping artists get their music heard by more fans and Amazon Music editors. Dubbed "New Releases" in the Artist Tools section of the platform, the tool serves a similar purpose to Spotify's pitch tool, but with a few nice additions.
How The Amazon Music For Artists 'New Releases' Tool Works
Artists are currently allowed to pitch as many songs as they'd like — but only one pitch per release. That means if you have multiple singles coming up, you can pitch all of them. But if you have an EP or a collection of work, you have to choose one song from that EP.
The tool also allows you to pitch a song up to 14 days after it comes out. Spotify's pitch tool requires you to pitch before the song is released, including at least one week in advance if you want it to show up on the Release Radar algorithmic playlist.
The "New Releases" tool allows you to write a message to Amazon Music editors up to 1,000 characters long — twice as long as Spotify. It also allows you to pick from a very robust selection of genres your song fits into. You can choose up to three different genres that might apply to your music.
You can also choose some of the basic things like whether it's an original, cover, remix, or live performance, as well as if it has lyrics and what language they're primarily in etc. You also choose the country where most of your fans are.
One of the other really interesting features of the tool is the ability to select up to three "similar" artists, giving you an even better chance of honing in on the right sound for the song. And then there are certain "moods" and buzzwords that might fit the song, including things like "Happy & Upbeat" or "study music."
Basically, you're given ample opportunities to help define and categorize your song so that the platform has a better idea of who to send it to.
What Happens After You Submit
Well, it's a brand new tool — so that remains to be seen! But Amazon Music for Artists says that once you submit the song you'll be kept up to date on its status and more of your fans will likely start to hear it.
This is, in theory, how the Spotify for Artists pitch tool also works. You can track certain metrics in Amazon Music for Artists that may help you better understand the efficacy of the New Releases tool. The platform uses a tab labeled "Programming" to show stats related to playlists and radio plays.
While Spotify uses a specific "Follower" metric to identify fans most likely to hear your new releases, Amazon Music uses a slightly murkier "Fans" and "Superfans" metric. These are chosen by the platform, though — meaning a user cannot go to your profile and choose an option to be considered a "fan" or "superfan."
This is how Amazon Music for Artists defines fans:
"These are your listeners who are past the initial discovery phase and have actively returned back to your music, added you to their library and playlists, followed you, or purchased digital/physical music (except on amazon.jp). On average, your Fans drive over half of your total streams on Amazon Music, and over one third of them will continue to stream your music in the next 30 days. See how many Fans you have by navigating to the “Fans” tab of the Amazon Music for Artists app."
And this is how the platform defines Superfans:
"Superfans are a small, but extremely valuable, subset of your most passionate Fans. On average, these listeners drive almost one third of your total streams, and the majority will continue to listen to your music in the next 30 days. See how many Superfans you have by navigating to the “Fans” tab of the Amazon Music for Artists app."
Hopefully as the tool develops we'll get more clarity into who will be more likely to hear your new releases after you use the New Releases tool. If you don't have an Amazon Music for Artists account yet, you can create one here.